Bruises
by quinnsfabrays
Summary: Kitty and Ryder are paired up for a school project. Ryder finds out that Kitty is being abused by her father. (Im not very good at writing, but I had this idea and I had to turn it into a story!)
1. Chapter 1

"Alright class for this project you will each be assigned a partner." The teacher started handing out the project guidelines. She handed the rough sheet to Kitty. "And you Kitty, will be partners with Ryder Lynn." As the bell rang, Kitty was overcome with the herd of students rushing out of the classroom. She knew who Ryder was, of course. He is in the glee club with her and they had only talked a few times. Other than him calling her a bitch, he had seemed like an all right guy.

Kitty hurried out of the classroom and started to gather her books for her next class. She shut her locker and made her way down the crowded hallway. Kitty was viewed as untouchable at McKinley, ever since she became head cheerleader of the Cheerios. Nobody would ever guess, but Kitty was often lonely and that was one of the many reasons she felt the need to be a bitch to everyone. "Hey, Kitty!" She turned around to see Ryder Lynn running her way. He finally caught up to her, slightly panting as he started walking next to her. "Oh, hey Ryder" She responded. "So I was thinking since the project is due in about two weeks that we could start planning out the basics today." He said. "So do you want to come over to my house tonight and we could get started?" Kitty thought for a moment. "Well it is a Friday, Ryder." She sighed. "But my father will kill me if I don't get a good grade on this project. Why not? I'll be at your house around six. See ya." She flung her backpack over her shoulder and disappeared into the sea of students. Kitty wasn't exactly sure how she and Ryder would get along, but she figured they'd be fine as long as they just focused on the project.


	2. Chapter 2

Kitty arrived at Ryders house that night. She knocked on the door, shivering in the cold with the white snow falling around her. "Ah, hey Kitty." Ryder held the door open for her.

"Hi. So where are we working on this project?" She questioned.

"Uh, follow me." Ryder led Kitty down to his basement. They sat down on a comfortable couch with a table of work yet to be done sitting in front of them. Ryder looked at Kitty with a suspicious expression on his face. "Is there something wrong with me?" She snapped. Ryder looked at Kitty.

"N-no, its just that you have a bruise on your shoulder. What happened?" He fished a pen out of his pencil case.

"What do you think happened, Lynn. An idiot didn't catch me during cheer practice." She said.

"Oh, sorry. Its just a pretty big bruise." He apologized.

"Yeah, whatever." Kitty started filling out one of the papers. Ryder realized he forgot to take his backpack downstairs, and he stood up from the couch. On his way to the stairs, Ryder tripped on Kitty's backpack and fell flat on his face. He heard a muffled noise from behind him and turned around to see Kitty with a hand covering her mouth, giggling like a young girl.

"You would laugh at that." He glared at Kitty, who was practically rolling on the floor.

"Sorry, its just that-" Her sentence was interrupted by her own laughter. Ryder couldn't help but smile at the sight of Kitty acting like this. He softly chuckled to himself and jogged up the steps.

When he sat back down on the couch, Kitty set down her pen and let out a sigh of relief. "I think im done for the day." She put the papers into her backpack.

"Well didn't you say that your dad wasn't expecting you home until nine? Do you wanna watch a movie or something?" Ryder asked.

"It depends on the movie." She smirked.

"Anything you want." Ryder laughed.

"Alright, Bieber, Im down." She started looking through a box of movies. "Ah, perfect. Marley and Me. Its my favorite movie, like ever." Kitty handed the movie to Ryder and he put it into the dvd player. They both sat down on the couch as the movie started showing the opening credits.

The movie started to get a little emotional and Kitty looked over to see a flustered Ryder with splotchy, red cheeks. Kitty burst out laughing. "Ryder, have you been crying?" She was shocked to see the star quarterback of McKinley like this.

"Uh, no my eyes were just really irritated!" He defended.

"You were totally crying!" Kitty laughed. Ryder sighed and re-adjusted his pillow.

"Maybe I was crying, alright, but this movie is really sad." He frowned. Kitty giggled and pulled the blanket they were sharing up to her shoulders.

Kitty's eyelids started to get heavy and she couldn't focus on the movie any longer. She curled up to Ryder and rested her head on his shoulder. Ryder was surprised that Kitty would actually show any form of affection toward anyone, especially himself. He looked down at Kitty and saw that she had fallen asleep. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. She looked so peaceful and happy. She was never like that in Glee club. Soon after, Ryder dozed off and fell asleep as well.

Kitty awoke to the sound of a television. It took a moment for her to realize where she really was. She leaped off the couch and started gathering her things hurriedly. Ryder woke up to Kitty taking some papers off of the table. "Oh, sorry, we must have fallen asleep. Its no big deal though, im sure my parents wont mind." Ryder started stretching and sat up. Kitty stood there gaping at Ryder.

"No big deal? You think this is no big deal? My dad is never going to forgive me for this!" Kitty screamed. She started running toward the steps, but Ryder stopped her.

"Woah, calm down. Its gonna be okay Kitty." He rest his hand on her shoulder.

"Its not gonna be okay! Its never going to be okay, Ryder!" She grabbed his hand and flung it off her shoulder. Ryder watched as Kitty ran up the stairs.

"I don't understand that girl." He sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Ryder walked the walls of McKinley with only one thing on his mind. Kitty Wilde. He didn't know why he couldn't stop thinking about her but it probably had something to do with the way she ran off the other night. He walked up to his best friend Jake's locker and decided to ask him about Kitty. "Hey, man. Have you seen Kitty anywhere today?"

"Hmm, now that you bring her up, I actually haven't. Maybe you could ask one of her friends or something."

"Alright, thanks, I will. Bye." Ryder hurried down the hallway and into Coach Sylvester's office. "Hey, coach, has Kitty told you anything about missing practice today?" Ryder leaned against the doorframe.

"Well, I have absolutely no idea why I'm telling you this but I don't really care to be honest. Yeah, she called this morning and told me she would have to skip todays practice." Sue answered as she was organizing her paperwork.

"Oh, alright, thanks Coach!" Ryder left her office and headed to fourth period. He wondered why Kitty was missing school and practice. If she's missing Cheerios practice then something must be wrong. And she was acting pretty distant last night too. Ryder carried on throughout the day thinking about being home and just sleeping. Although when he finally had the chance to sleep, he lay in bed for hours just thinking about Kitty. How she laughed so sincerely last night. How she seemed so happy, happier than he had ever seen her. How she was so different than what you would expect her to be like. Ryder started to wonder why he was thinking so much about Kitty and how he couldn't get the image of her face out of his head. He gave up on trying to figure out the answer as to why he had taken a sudden liking to the head cheerleader at McKinley. Eventually he fell asleep with the thought of what Kitty could have been doing at that moment on his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

_**(Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile! I'm starting to get really excited about this story so I will probably update more often. I'm also sorry this chapter has so much angst. It's really dramatic so… just brace yourself. And finally I wanted to thank everybody for leaving nice reviews! I love it when people leave reviews and the great suggestions and constructive criticism everyone has left really helped me create this story!)**_

Kitty arrived at school that morning and proudly walked down the halls in her Cheerios uniform. She was about to reach the classroom of her first period when she was suddenly stopped by a gentle pull on her shoulder. Kitty turned around to see Ryder staring at her with a concerned look on his face. "What do you want?" Kitty scowled. Ryder gave Kitty a confused look, wondering why she was suddenly so angry with him.

"Sorry I didn't mean to annoy you. I was just wondering why you weren't at school yesterday." He said, eyebrows drawn together with eyes full of concern. Ryder couldn't seem to identify the expression on Kitty's face. She looked scared, yet angry. It baffled Ryder how Kitty could just keep all of her emotions inside, untouched. Before this week, Ryder would've said that Kitty was a fake, heartless robot. But he's seen a side of her that he was sure nobody had ever seen. Ryder kept himself from getting distracted and looked at Kitty, waiting for an answer.

"I was sick." She mumbled. Ryder could tell she was lying. He can see right through Kitty, he's aware that she hides her real emotions and replaces them with those of a normal girl. She's just too afraid to trust someone with those emotions. She's afraid that they will see a different girl. That they will see a vulnerable troubled girl, not the head cheerleader who was confident and capable of anything.

"Kitty, I know there's something wrong, and I know you'll never tell me, but that won't stop me from trying to figure you out." Ryder whispered. Kitty looked furious. She stepped toward Ryder and tightly held the collar of his shirt.

"Listen here, Ryder Lynn, I don't need anybody 'figuring me out'. I know who I am, and you do too. So I don't need you here talking to me, acting like you're some kind of dumb therapist." She snapped. She roughly let go of his collar and gave him a threatening look.

"Kitty I-" Ryder was interrupted with a tough punch in the nose by the one and only, Kitty Wilde. His head jerked to the side and he held a hand up to his nose, staring at Kitty with shocked eyes. Kitty didn't know why she punched him, but at least it got him to stop asking her questions that she didn't want to answer.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ryder shouted. He took his hand away from his face, revealing a very bloody nose. His shouting had attracted a large crowd of students that stood around them trying to figure out what was going on. Ryder pinched the bridge of his nose, and gave Kitty an angry look. A teacher broke through the crowd and stared at the two of them.

"Have you done this to him?" The teacher looked at Kitty. Kitty didn't say anything, but looked at the large puddle of blood on the floor. The teacher grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the crowd. She looked back at Ryder, only to see him staring at her with his mouth slightly open, and a confused look on his face. Kitty was lead into the Principals office and given a long talk about punching and hurting classmates. Kitty wasn't paying attention to what the principal was saying, but was thinking about why she punched Ryder. The look on Ryder's face made her uncomfortable. She didn't know what caused her to hurt him. Maybe it was all of the adrenaline building up inside of her, but she knew that she would later regret it. And she was right.

Kitty shut her bedroom door quietly, trying not to wake her dad. Not quietly enough, seeing as he woke up later and walked into her room with an obvious hangover. "Kitty!" He glared. "I got a call from the principal today, he told me about you getting a detention. You know what I said about getting in trouble, Kitty." He growled, inching dangerously close to her. Kitty backed up against the cold wall. She didn't think the principal would tell him about her detention.

"Dad, I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to get in trouble. I swear, Dad. Please don't be mad." She pleaded. He was already mad. He punched a hole in the wall an inch away from the side of her head. Kitty winced and shut her eyes tightly. She could feel the tears running down her cheeks. "Please, Dad. I'm so sorry!" Kitty sobbed. She felt a firm punch smashing into her jaw. She gasped and held a hand to her throbbing cheek. Kitty slipped out of her Dad's tight grasp on her shoulders and ran for the door out of her bedroom. She was too slow, and was harshly yanked back. He slapped her and shoved her against the wall. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She took a sharp, dry breath and started to lose her vision. Everything was becoming blurry and Kitty began to feel very light-headed. Her Dad released his grip on her, letting her slowly collapse to the floor.

"I don't ever want to hear from the principal again!" He angrily shouted as he stormed out of her bedroom and slammed the bedroom door shut. He left Kitty with shaky hands covering her wet eyes, bloodshot from crying so hard. An hour had passed and Kitty finally got up from the floor and walked into her bathroom to inspect the bruises. She looked at the mirror, seeing a large bruise across her cheek.

"Shit." Kitty muttered. She needed to cover this up quickly. If it wasn't covered by the morning, people would ask her what happened, and she doesn't function very well when asked complicated questions. Kitty got out the best concealer she had and applied it to the bruise. After it was almost unnoticeable, she crawled into her bed and turned off the lights. Kitty thought about what Ryder said earlier before she had punched him. She was sorry for hurting him but the pain of her injuries distracted her from thinking about him. Eventually, she fell asleep with tears dried onto her cheek.


	5. Chapter 5

**(Sorry I haven't updated in a really long time, but yay I added another chapter. I love reading all of your reviews! Please feel free to leave any helpful reviews as well, I am always looking for ways that I can improve my writing!)**

Kitty woke up tired the next day, her face still throbbing from the night before. She got up and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her bruise was still noticeable, but nothing some more concealer couldn't cover up. She had never told anyone about her dad abusing her but even though she wanted to, she was too scared at what the result might be. Kitty didn't want any special treatment. She didn't want to be pitied by her friends. She did not want to be asked if she was okay when everyone already knew the answer. Pushing aside the useless thoughts, Kitty threw on her cheerios uniform and pushed her hair into a high ponytail. As she was leaving the house, Kitty remembered what had happened the day before. She felt awful about it and she had no reason to take out her feelings on Ryder. Kitty didn't mean to punch him but it was too late after she realized what she had just done.

Walking into school was like walking into a loud press conference. Practically the whole student body was asking Kitty a much too large amount of questions that she hadn't been prepared to answer. She rushed down the crowded hallway, avoiding eye contact with Ryder, who was standing at the water fountain. Kitty tried her best to ignore all of the questions coming her way, also trying to ignore the look of disgust on Ryder's face.

"Why did you punch Ryder in the nose?" She flinched at the question.

"Kitty! What happened?" Kitty started walking faster.

"You know you broke his nose, right?" She could feel tears welling up in her weary eyes.

"What did Ryder ever do to you?" The question pushed her over the edge. She had finally given in and reached her breaking point. Kitty put her hands over her eyes, trying to hide her tears as she escaped the large crowd of interrogators.

Kitty was now curled up in the corner of an empty classroom. Thankfully, the door was shut, muffling the sounds of her quiet sobs. She rested her head on the cold wall and roughly wiped at her wet, red cheeks. Kitty most definitely did not feel pretty right now. She hid away from everyone, preventing them from seeing this ugly side of her. She wanted to be alone, yet she wanted to be loved. In that moment, Kitty realized that there was no in between. Right now, she was completely and utterly alone. What was the point of crying when there was no one there to comfort her, or worse, she was unable to even comfort herself? The door burst open, and Kitty could hear a loud voice calling her name. The voice belonged to none other than Ryder Lynn. He was the last person she wanted to see at a time like this. "Kitty?" Ryder looked around the room. He spotted Kitty and looked shocked, somewhat guilty. She let out a choked sob and covered her eyes with her rough, dry hands. "Kitty. I-" Ryder hesitated, walking closer to her. He gently took her hands into his own, lifting her up to her feet. They just stood there and stared at each other. Kitty broke out into a loud sob, her words inaudible. Ryder quieted her, taking Kitty into his arms. They hugged each other in a tight embrace. She let out a whimper, and rested her cheek on his shoulder.  
"I'm sorry." Kitty quietly muttered. She started crying even harder, leaving a wet spot on Ryder's shirt.

"It's okay, Kitty, it's gonna be okay." He gently rubbed circles into her back. Ryder broke the hug and took a step back, keeping a soft grip on Kitty. His eyes were swollen and he looked like he was on the verge of tears. Ryder held back the tears and pulled Kitty in for another hug. He looked at her with sorrowful eyes and gently wiped away a tear from her cheek. Ryder stepped away, walking towards the door. He opened the door and glanced back at Kitty as he gripped the door handle. "The funny thing is… I was never even mad at you," Ryder spoke with a hoarse voice, "And I honestly have no clue as to why that is." Ryder furrowed his eyebrows, looking off to the other side of the room with a confused look on his face. Kitty let out a small breath and wiped away the leftover tears on her face. He gave her a slight frown and left the classroom, this time not looking back.


	6. Chapter 6

_**(I still cant believe cory is dead. Rest in peace 3)**_

Kitty was confused to say the least. She had broken Ryder's nose, yet he was never even mad at her? It made her frustrated because she genuinely felt bad for him. She broke his freaking nose. Why did Ryder Lynn have to be so complicated? Why did he have to be the perfect, nice guy like the ones in those cheesy Nicholas Sparks movies? Kitty decided to put these thoughts aside and focus on getting through the rest of the day.

Kitty patiently waited outside for her father to pick her up from school. Two hours went by and no students were seen. It was a Friday and everyone had already left the school to go and do things that normal teenagers did. Her father had probably forgotten about getting her and fallen asleep. Kitty sighed and started walking to the bus stop about two miles off campus.

She was just leaving school grounds when she heard a loud engine coming closer and closer to her. Kitty turned to see who was in the car when she spotted Ryder. "Hey. You need a ride?" He offered with a smile. Kitty looked up at him and gave a slight smile back.  
"Sure. Thanks, Ryder." She answered. He opened the passenger and let her in to the large truck. There was no radio and the truck looked pretty old, but the seats were pretty comfortable. Kitty fastened her seatbelt and leaned back in to her seat as Ryder pulled back in to the empty street.  
"Where to?" He asked.  
"Uh. You can just drop me off at Mckinley park, its only a few minutes away from my house. My neighborhood is kind of gated in. It would be hard to get in to anyways and i don't want to put you through the trouble." Kitty looked out the window as she talked softly.  
"Alright." Ryder turned on to a more crowded street and started tapping the steering wheel with his fingers. The car was filled with silence, not exactly awkward though. Kitty could hear Ryder humming a familiar song softly and quietly. She started playing with her nails and laid her hands out on her legs. Ryder looked over at her arms and his eyes widened. "What happened?" He held a concerned look on his face and looked her in the eyes.

"Nothing. I just fell yesterday." She got uncomfortable and looked away from him."Im getting really tired of this Kitty!" He raised his voice to an almost yell. "Tell me whats going on!" Ryder's face looked the angriest she had ever witnessed.

"I said it was nothing, Ryder!" She yelled in return. Ryder was getting frustrated and suddenly gripped her shoulder with a strong squeeze. She cringed and turned away. His eyes widened and his face was filled with regret.

"Kitty. God, Kitty, im so sorry." His face looked sad and guilty. Ryder stopped for a minute and looked away. He looked back at her with a concerned look on his gentle face. "Please don't tell me this has something to do with your father." He almost pleaded.  
Kitty looked away, tears rolling down her face. She yanked the door open and jumped out quickly. She didnt turn back, didnt look at him, she just left and ran away. She ran as far as she could, as long as she could get away from him.


	7. Chapter 7

'I cant believe I just did that. I ruined everything!' Ryder shouted at himself. He had to go find Kitty before she got into her neighboorhood. Ryder remebered what she had said about dropping her off at McKinley park and figured that he may as well look for her there. He had nothing left to lose. He started up the engine and drove off in to the dark.

Ryder couldnt stop thinking about Kitty. He had probably just ruined all of any trust she had in him. He basically harrased her and he felt absolutely horrible about it. Ryder thought about Kittys dad abusing her and started tearing up. Thinking about a helpless girl getting beaten by her own father made him sick to his stomach.

The large truck pulled in to the nearest parking space in front of the park. Ryder got out of his car and stepped on to the rough concrete of the parking lot. Outside it was dark enough that Ryder stumbled on a few rocks while he was walking to the main part of the park. The moon looked dull and it made Ryder even more stressed. "Kitty!" Ryder yelled out. "Kitty, where are you? I'm sorry!" He pleaded jogging around the park. Ryder looked everywhere for Kitty. He had been looking for almost thirty minutes when he heard a light noise. He turned around to find Kitty sitting on a bench, slumped over and crying. He rushed over and sat down next to her, taking her cold soft hands into his own. "I am so sorry Kitty." Ryder whispered.

Kitty didnt answer, but instead squeezed his hands tighter. He took off his coat and laid it over Kitty's shoulders. Ryder raised his hand to her chin, gently facing her to him so that they were looking in to each others eyes. "I promise im not going to let anybody hurt you from now on, ok?" Ryder wiped a tear away from Kitty's face and put his hands to her cheeks. He looked her straight in the eyes and said, "I like you Kitty, I mean I genuinely care about you and to think about you being hurt makes me feel horrible." Ryder was on the verge of crying but kept on talking. "In fact, I think I've fallen in love with you." His eyes went down to her lips and back up to her watery blue eyes. Ryder cupped her cheeks and pulled Kitty in to a simple, chaste kiss. Kitty kissed back and put her arms around his neck. He grabbed her waist and they got lost into the kiss, each of them grasping on to the other like it would save their life. After awhile the two pulled away and Ryder got up from the bench, taking Kitty's hand and helping her up.

"Thank you Ryder, for everything." Kitty smiled as he helped her into the front seat of his car. He returned the smile and buckled her up. Ryder got into his seat and started up the engine. As he pulled out of the parking lot he put a free hand on top of hers. He loved the feeling he got when he was Kitty. Ryder knew that he really did love her. He would do anything to protect her, even if he was injured in the process. "And by the way" Kitty said, looking at Ryder. "I think I love you too." They smiled at each other and went in for another kiss, a simple brush of the others lips. And there were many more to come.


End file.
